Tech Earnings Roundup Week of Jan 29, 2017: EA, AMD, Apple and More

It was a busy week in the world of tech, several companies published their earnings for last quarter and announced big plans at the same time. As not everyone has the time or inclination to spit through pages and pages of financial reports, we’ve put together the most important facts at a glance.

Electronic Arts did better than expected: the game giant reported earnings of a little over $2 billion (including deferred revenue), netting its shareholders $2.45 per share rather than the expected $2.15. This performance is due to several factors, but most likely includes the sales figures of World War I shooter Battlefield as well as the continued success of the FIFA franchise. The current quarter’s earnings are expected to be good as well, as EA will be publishing the fourth installment in the Mass Effectseries, which is already predicted sell millions of copies.

Also firmly in the “win” column is Facebook, which saw a huge boost in incoming money thanks to the U.S. election. So many people were getting their news from the social media site during the campaign that advertisers ended up paying a premium. Between that and a change the way the company keeps it books (resulting in a $1 billion windfall), the company ended up with earnings per share of $1.41. Total revenue was a whopping $8.81 billion.

News was less stellar for Nintendo, as share prices dropped a few percent to end up at $197.02: not a low point for the gaming company, but rather disappointing nonetheless. This drop may be due to the launch of the Switch, which wasn’t as well received as the company had hoped. Between the disappointing game lineup and the less-than-great specs, the new handheld console was not what fans had hoped for. However, as the Switch is launching very soon, there is still a very good chance shares will recover as fans may have gotten over their initial reluctance once the launch date arrives.

A Rising Tide

Apple is once on the rise again, reporting revenue of $74.8 billion and its stock price going up by over 6 percent the day after this figure was announced. Earnings were most likely up as a result of the increased iPhone sales, which had lagged in previous quarters. Per share income was $3.36, with dividends of $0.57 being turned out. As yet it’s hard to say how this quarter will turn out, but optimism seems well placed.

One of Apple’s main competitors did extremely well, ending 2016 with a thoroughly unexpected bang: Microsoft ended up raking in $26.1 billion, $6.5 billion of which was profit and netted shareholders an earnings per share of $0.83. No mean feat, especially since market observers had announced they expected them to do badly. As for the rest of this year, Microsoft is expected to hold the course while gamers and tech watchers alike wait for Project Scorpio to launch.

Last, but not least, is AMD, the company that at its latest earnings conference announced its new lines of CPUs and GPUs. The company’s revenue over last quarter rose by around 15 percent to $1.11 billion, largely thanks to its sales of Polaris GPUs and their announced inclusion in the aforementioned Scorpio. As AMD is only getting ready for even more sales, investors with stock in the company are looking toward a rosy future.

Fergus has been tinkering with computers since he was a kid and likes to put a stop to parties by listing the specs of all the digital devices in the room. It's best not to let him near your computer since he'll take it apart and may not put it back together again before he leaves.